“As for putting the wires underground, [PSE spokesman] Wappler said that would be a ‘major construction project’ that could disturb much more land for a longer period of time than above-ground wires. He also said that while putting wires underground means fewer (but potentially longer) outages, under current regulations, the reliability issue is secondary to the aesthetic benefits and therefore the communities that choose to place wires underground would be responsible to pay.” [huh? I would like to know where in the regulations Wappler finds language like that.]

and: “Wappler said placing the lines underground increases construction costs from $3 million – $4 million per mile to $20 million to $28 million per mile. And because the decision to go underground we [sic] be an aesthetic choice made by the community, under Washington state law, the additional costs would be borne by the community.” [huh?]

That is one more thing Wappler keeps misrepresenting: it is not some grand “Washington state law” passed by the legislature that Wappler refers to when arguing PSE’s hands are tied regarding underground lines; rather, it is the PSE’s own crafted tariff 34(b)(ii) that puts the cost of under-grounding onto others other than PSE, a tariff no doubt slipped past and rubber-stamped by the UTC among the many pages of PSE’s 2006 submitted tariff schedule.

2 thoughts on “Renton Up In Arms at City Council Meeting”

If the Renton substation is nearing capacity maybe the best solution would be to add a clean natural gas powered generator plant in Renton and feed the local grid directly rather than dragging 230 kV power lines on twice as tall poles that destroy property values for more residences than the current lines do. Such local power plants are preferred elsewhere over power lines according to WSJ. If this were not a serious issue there would not be lots of people protesting against PSE plans. It is pathetic that our property values and quality of life are sacrificed to increase the profits for PSE, a company owned by Australian interests.